“My own view is the hunting ban is a bad piece of legislation, it hasn’t worked, it has made a mockery of the law, a lot of time was wasted on it, and I think we would be better off without it. That gives you a clue to how I will vote.

Using the same logic as Louise, David Cameron doesn’t give a shit about animal cruelty. After all, if it’s alright to rip a fox to bits using dogs, which is undeniably cruel, then why is it wrong to kick the face off a dog, or to throw a cat in the river with only a couple of bricks for company in a bag or to make lame a horse with a blade in the middle of the night. Presumably by the logic that Louise forwards, the RSPCA should be a proscribed organisation.

The ban on fox hunting may be a poor piece of legislation, but that is no reason to repeal it, modify it instead. The Tories claim that they don’t like animal cruelty, who would claim otherwise? Are they going to ban battery farming or the use of animals in cosmetics manufacturing?